Life Goes On
by Readergirl37
Summary: Elena and Elijah are talking game plans for being allies when Elena sees a face she hasn't seen in a long time. Set in s2, slight Elejah.


AN: This story was inspired by someone named Ian. I didn't have the same relationship with him that Elena has with the character she interacts with. I've been dealing with a few things and seeing Ian (not Somerhalder) brought this all together into a story.

* * *

She's with Elijah, and they're talking about everything and nothing, and then she stops walking. He stops talking when she stops moving, and asks about the change in her behavior. She looks like she just saw something she lost, and he wonders what her human eyes saw that his didn't. She shakes her head and brushes whatever she saw away, and asks him to continue talking. They continue talking and walking through the town only one of them knows. Then Elena looks across the street and someone stops on the other side.

"I think I knew her." Elena says as she stops walking. The person on the other side hits the button for the crosswalk, and as soon as it's okay to go, she runs. She reaches Elena and Elijah, who steps back.

"Elena?" He hears the older girl ask.

"Maddie?" Elena asks and the girl nods and Elijah sees tears in both of their eyes. They hug so fiercely that Elijah worries about Elena's ribs, he wonders if he just saved Elena's life only for her to be severely injured a few days later.

* * *

"Oh my god, Maddie." Elena says and the other girl just nods.

"I'm so sorry, I changed my number last year. Someone dropped my phone in a pool and I lost your number. How have you been?" The other girl asks and Elena tells her that she's fine and that they're going to exchange numbers once they're not hugging. Her old friend agrees with ease.

Tears burn in her eyes and Elena lets them fall.

"What have you been up to?" Elena manages to keep her voice steady, one of the only perks of hanging around vampires. Her acting skills now fool humans, for the most part.

"I'm studying fashion. I missed you so much. You're a senior this year right? How are Bonnie and Caroline? Are you still on the squad?"

"Yeah, I'm a senior. Bonnie and Care are fine and they're on the squad."

"You aren't?" Elena forgot how good Maddie was at reading in between the lines. She lets out a sigh.

"No. My parents died the summer you graduated. I got a little wrapped up in grief and I just fell behind. Cheer doesn't wait for anyone, you know that." Elena says and her friend hugs her tighter. It's not a bad pain. It's a nice, familiar pressure.

"Oh my god, Elena I am so sorry. I loved your parents. Does Jenna or John take care of you and Jeremy?" Her friend asks, and shifts slightly.

"And who's your friend?" She adds the question.

"Jenna takes care of Jeremy and me. This is Elijah. He's a friend of Jenna's. He's an author. Elijah, this is Maddie." She breaks away from the hug, but Maddie puts her elbow in Elena's and shakes Elijah's hand with her free one.

They exchange numbers and Elena promises to call and catch her up on what her friend missed.

* * *

Elijah looks like he's going to ask questions so she begins to fill him in.

"Maddie was a cheerleader. She's two years older. She was like an older sister to me, and Bonnie and Caroline looked up to her too, but Maddie and I hung out the most. She graduated last year and then my parents died and my life changed. I changed." Elena explains and wonders if the Original next to her even cares. They talk about Maddie for a few moments and then he attempts to interest her in a different topic. She barely responds, she's not engaged like she usually is. So he asks what's wrong, why she's so quiet, if he can do anything to help. She picks up her pace and they move a little faster than the slow walk they had been doing.

"It's just-" She trails off for a moment looking for the right words.

"Seeing Maddie again reminded me of who I used to be and who I wanted to be versus how I am now. I had no idea my life would turn out like this. I thought I'd still be dating Matt and doing cheerleading and thinking and planning for the rest of my life." She says and lets her words sink in for a moment before continuing.

"Seeing her reminded me of what everything was like before my parents died. She reminded me that there's life after high school, if I live that long. Your brother almost killed me last week and before that it was something else and I've almost died so many times this year I stopped keeping track. I keep feeling like I'm like a carton of eggs. Everyone treats me like I'm fragile and I have an expiration date of eighteen. If I make it out, if I make it out of high school, I don't even know what I'll do." She says and he nods, letting her know that he's listening.

"I spend so much time making sure everyone's safe or working on plans or homework or just trying to be normal. It's exhausting. I'm not normal and I won't ever be normal again. Between all the stuff I'm trying to juggle, I haven't really thought too much about my future. Mostly because it feels like planning's stupid if I die before I even get to live it." Elena continues and they turn a corner.

"I forgot that life goes on after high school for most people. I didn't like thinking about my life so I just didn't. I'm just in my thoughts, and I'm a little scattered. Do you mind driving back to Mystic Falls? I'd like some time to think. We can talk tomorrow, I just need some time to process all of this." Elena feels like her ship of denial that had been sailing pretty smoothly just got shipwrecked, and she was thrown a few thousand feet under water. She wants to scream because she has to rethink everything. Elijah nods and they begin to walk the way they came.

"Of course, lovely Elena. Take all the time you need." He tells her. Neither of them points out that of the two of them, he's the only one that has all the time he needs.

He drops her off at home and she promises to call when she's ready to talk about moving forward as allies.

* * *

She calls Maddie and tells her what she can and fudges the the details that she has to. Elena takes a shower and goes to bed not long after that because she's tired and she doesn't want to think anymore. She'll tell Caroline and Bonnie tomorrow, but until then, she just wants sleep.

* * *

She'll figure it out someday.

* * *

finis


End file.
